enyx

The electronics are not the problem, they never were. The problem lies in what you do with them. There are plenty of bands who make this kind of stuff work wonderfully, with a good balance between vocals/instruments and electronic elements. So I don't think that electronics immediately equals "another DIVISION" or any of the sort, it's just waiting if they've finally improved on how to use them.

Yep, that's basically what I was trying to get at in my post as well. So far their attempts at incorporating electronic elements into their sound seem to have mostly taken the form of writing generic archetypical GazettE songs and then throwing random electronic sounds over the top of them in a rather superficial way. If they're going to continue with the electronic stuff on DOGMA, then I really hope they change their approach somewhat.

I was digging that spot until 1:11. I don't have any issue with electronic music per se but I don't think the GazettE have done anything particularly interesting with it in their last three albums either. I was hoping they'd have moved on from it but that teaser suggests otherwise. Live song snippet sounds okay but its way too short and in too low quality to make any judgements.

I don't know whether to be excited or sceptical when it comes to this band nowadays. They have the talent to write good music but chronically under-deliver. I'll keep an eye on this but I wont get my hopes up just yet.

I just got 95% on a test for a subject that I've never been to a single class for, and hadn't studied whatsoever before taking the test. I am a god.

Oh god, the ensuing shitstorm in this thread isn't going to be pretty.

On a more serious note, whilst Lycaon wasn't really for me, they did seem to be one of the more interesting VK bands as of late. A shame for their fans.

Phoenix has its moments where it dips a bit too much into 'typical repetitive Alice Nine song' territory for me, most notably in the chorus, but on the whole there's a lot more interesting songwriting going on here than in any of the stuff they released with PSC post-Gemini. I've always had a love-hate relationship with A9; I think, without a doubt, that they're talented enough to write fantastic music and they've proven that in flashes in the past, but at the same time they've repeatedly under-delivered by producing repetitive, dull and generic drivel for large portions of their career. Nevertheless, they seem to have some sort of fire lit under them since this whole PSC split happened and I respect their decision as well as their potential songwriting ability enough that I'm going to keep an eye on them for the immediate future.

As for DIAWOLF, it doesn't sound too far removed from the A9 track, but it's nice enough for what it is. I feel like I need to hear more before I can say how I feel about the project as a whole, though. Also, I can't be the only person who thought "What the hell is kenji03 doing in this PV?" at 0:21 xD

It's times like this when I get amused that some people still think that Dir en grey have completely shed any Visual Kei influences.

Anyway, I'm normally not the type of person to care too much for a band's 'look', but I quite like this one.

Just watched Enter the Void and now I'm trying to unscramble my brain.

I have a love-meh relationship with this band. They've shown brief flashes of fantastic songwriting and great potential, but have also pushed out a lot of mediocre stuff and seem to chronically under-deliver overall in that regard. Their stylistic direction as of late hasn't done much to fill me with optimism either. I'll give this a shot though.

The second track totally reminded me of their first two EPs (in a good way). The third track in particular sounds really interesting. 

The video description also contains the full DVD tracklist. It's cool to see the zanyko record compilation track was included.

Here's hoping that the sudden change of look is a reflection of some new found stylistic inspiration. Their sound has barely changed for the last 5 years so it's about time we got something different from them.

I tend to enjoy the more atmospheric/slower songs live for some reason, so out of all of the ARCHE tracks I think 濤声 and 空谷の跫音 are the two that I'd like to hear live the most. I get the impression that 懐春 would be particularly enjoyable as well. 

Quick question: What are everybody's thoughts on the original/extended version of moment A rhythm compared to the album/short version? Personally I find it a real shame that the original version seems to have been lost in obscurity with both just A moment and Best of Tornado featuring the short version, combined with the fact that the original single is out of print. It might seem a little out of place amongst the rest of Sigure's work due to it being much more experimental, but I really think that the second half of the original version of the song is one of the most notable moments in their discography. 

Brilliant band. They're one of the very few artists that I can say that I genuinely think get 'better' with everything that they release. I don't mean that in the sense that I always prefer whatever stylistic or thematic direction they choose take over those in their previous efforts, but that I feel as though they seem to be continually getting better at expressing whatever themes they choose to explore. They've progressed from a band playing decent but rather generic indie rock, to a band that seems to constantly develop fresh new ideas for exploring whatever type of sound(s) they're going for despite the fact that they release new music at a ridiculous rate; and, perhaps more importantly, it always comes across in an organic, natural way, rather than feeling forced for the sake of doing something different. Their output last year was fantastic and I have no reason to expect that they wont deliver on whatever they release next.

ハイスイノナサ (haisuinonasa) have announced that their second single 「変身」("Makeover") will be released on 2015.3.11. The single will also come with a DVD containing live recordings of 5 previous songs.

CD
1. 変身 ("Makeover")
2. 地図に無い街 ("The town with no map")
3. ブラインド ("Blind")
DVD
AFTER FLAT TOKYO Live Recording (5 tracks)

Artwork


This is one of my absolute favourite bands so I'm really happy about this. I'd have preferred a new album over a single, but beggars can't be choosers

Plug is love, plug is life. 

I have no problem with bands adopting traits of EDM into their music so long as it feels natural and not forced. I'll give this a shot.

It depends on whether her depressive issues are long-standing or whether it's a more recent thing. If it's something she's been dealing with for a long time then I'd say that there's a good chance that that this decision is something that could become permanent. If it's a more recent thing, then it's entirely possible that she could change her mind after a year or two. 

Regardless of whether it's permanent or not, her work with midori is something that I really appreciate and, whilst her solo work is something I personally don't care too much for, I think she's definitely a loss to the Japanese music scene. Hopefully she reconsiders.

I'l be at one of the O2 Islington gigs for sure, probably the Saturday.

It seems like this band has a lot of potential as far as the instrumentals are concerned, but the poppy overtones hold it back a bit. I feel like I need to hear the rest of the mini before I can say anything else.

I didn't care too much for his self-titled album nor the recent singles, but he's still one of those musicians that I find to be worth keeping an eye on. I'll definitely check this out.

I'll be there in 15 minutes to half an hour.

I have mixed feelings towards this list personally. I feel some tracks definitely deserve their places (perhaps not in the same order, but at least within the top 25 itself), such as Rhapsody in beauty, 懐春, and 光の加減で話した, but at the same time there are some tracks on here that I feel are rather overrated; particularly unravel (which I personally consider to be one of TK's weakest compositions) and phenomenon. Then again, such is the nature of subjectivity, I doubt anyone will completely agree with everything on the list. Still, I appreciate the work that you guys put into it.

I'm not particularly supportive of the idea of splitting news based on genre (particularly one as subjective and controversial Visual Kei, with it's lack of an objective definition). One thing that I like about Monochrome Heaven is the fact that it's slowly moving more towards promoting musical diversity, and I feel that giving VK and non-VK news their own sections would hinder that somewhat. Personally I'm mostly interested in non-VK stuff, but every now and then I still come across some interesting VK news purely because of the fact that I see it being posted here while I'm predominantly searching for other things, and that helps me to stay aware of what's happening in the VK scene even if its not my main area of interest. 

Basically I think this site should keep promoting musical diversity within the Japanese music scene, rather than trying to segment it.

Count me in.